Johnson v. Renico

• Decision Date: 21 April 2004
• Docket Number: No. CIV. 03-CV-40185-FL.,CIV. 03-CV-40185-FL.
• Parties: Harry C. JOHNSON, Petitioner, v. Paul RENICO, Respondent,
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan

314 F.Supp.2d 700

Harry C. JOHNSON, Petitioner, v. Paul RENICO, Respondent,

No. CIV. 03-CV-40185-FL.

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

April 21, 2004.

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Harry Johnson, Ionia, MI, pro se.

Laura G. Moody, Brenda E. Turner, Lansing, MI, for Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

GADOLA, District Judge.

Harry C. Johnson, ("petitioner"), presently confined at the Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan, seeks the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. In his application, filed pro se, petitioner challenges his conviction on one count of possession with intent to deliver more than 50 but less than 225 grams of cocaine, M.C.L.A. 333.7401(2)(a)(iii); M.S.A. 14.15(7401)(2)(a)(iii); and one count of possession with intent to deliver marijuana, M.C.L.A. 333.7401(2)(d)(iii); M.S.A. 14.15(7401)(2)(d)(iii). For the reasons stated below, petitioner's application for writ of habeas corpus shall be denied.

I. Background

Petitioner was convicted of the above offenses following a jury trial in the Kent County Circuit Court.

Police executed a search warrant at the Residence Inn in Kentwood, Michigan on October 19, 1998. The first officer to enter the motel room observed petitioner and his girlfriend, Tanesha Hines, running from one room towards another room past the top of the steps. Police recovered a plastic bag containing another plastic bag which contained marijuana, sixteen sandwich bags, and a scale from the toilet tank in the motel bathroom. Police had observed petitioner walking out of this bathroom. Police also discovered a small plastic baggy containing crack cocaine in a pair of blue jeans found between the bed and the wall. Hines informed the police that the jeans were hers. Police also found a vest lying on the other side of this bed. Police recovered five baggies containing seventy-nine grams of cocaine from this vest. Hines told the police that she had seen petitioner wear this vest several days earlier. This cocaine was valued at $ 16,000.00. Police also found a pair of black fleece pants, inside of which were a pair of fatigue pants. Inside of these fatigue pants police recovered a pager, identification, and a key. The identification belonged to Cory Colbert. Police located several items of clothing and a wallet with the identification for a Douglas Johnson in a closet in the downstairs bedroom. Police learned that this hotel room had been rented out by a man named Louis James.

Petitioner and Hines were arrested. Petitioner told the police his name was James Thomas. When petitioner was booked at the police station, he informed the police that Louis James was his uncle. One of the officers also went to the Kent County Jail and reviewed the booking records for Cory Colbert. Over defense objection, the officer testified that the county jail's records indicated that Cory Colbert was admitted to the jail on September 11, 1998 and was still incarcerated at the jail on October 17, 18, and 19, 1998. This officer also spoke with Cory Colbert, who verified this information.

Tanesha Hines testified that she went to the Residence Inn on October 19, 1998, because petitioner called her and asked her to come over to the motel to visit with him. Hines and petitioner were smoking marijuana on the bed when the police raided the motel room. Hines denied telling the police that she had seen petitioner pick a bag up off the dresser and run towards the motel room's bathroom at the time of the raid. Hines denied telling the police that she had seen petitioner wearing the vest that the cocaine was recovered from.

On cross-examination, Hines claimed that the prosecutor and the detective in charge of the case had spoken with her on the previous day and had attempted to get her to say something which was untrue. However, Hines denied being intimidated or threatened in any way. Hines admitted that she became emotional and left the room crying after speaking with the prosecutor and the detective, because they were not happy with the answers that she gave them, telling her that her answers were not the same as the ones that she had given the police on the night of her arrest. When Hines was asked about the vest by the prosecutor and the detective, she informed them that she thought that petitioner actually had been wearing an olive jumpsuit and not the vest. Hines indicated that petitioner was wearing the same jumpsuit at his trial that he wore at the time of his arrest.

Detective O'Brien was recalled. O'Brien indicated that Hines had told her at the time of her arrest that she had seen petitioner pick a plastic bag up off the dresser and run towards the motel room's bathroom at the time of the raid. Hines had also told O'Brien that she had seen petitioner wearing the vest where the cocaine had been found the previous Sunday. Hines also informed the police that she and petitioner had been at the motel room since the day before the police raid.

Petitioner testified that he was visiting his girlfriend at the motel room for five or six hours. Petitioner admitted smoking marijuana, but denied renting the room or selling narcotics. Petitioner denied possessing the cocaine recovered from the vest. Petitioner admitted that Douglas Johnson was his brother and that his brother's identification had been found in the closet of the downstairs bedroom of the motel. Petitioner admitted that Louis James was his uncle.

Petitioner's conviction was affirmed on appeal. People v. Johnson, 225867, 2001 WL 1606841 (Mich.Ct.App. December 14, 2001); lv. den. 467 Mich. 852, 649 N.W.2d 79 (2002). Petitioner now seeks the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus on the following grounds:

I. Whether the trial court's numerous prejudicial evidentiary errors, coupled with the trial court's evident lack of impartiality, denied Mr. Johnson a fair trial.

II. The prosecutor's numerous errors in closing argument denied defendant a fair trial.

III. Whether defendant was denied effective assistance of counsel when counsel failed to object to [the] instruction on impeachment of credibility with criminal history; [and] failed to examine transcripts for error before allowing jury to examine transcripts.

IV. Whether prosecution engaged in improper conduct by threatening witness Hines [the] day before her testimony in this trial, in an attempt to have Ms. Hines perjure herself.

V. Whether defendant is being denied time reduction under PA 670, do (sic) to trial court's error?

II. Standard of Review

An application for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court shall not be granted with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim —

(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or

(2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.

28 U.S.C. § 2254(d).

A decision of a state court is "contrary to" clearly established federal law if the state court arrives at a conclusion opposite to that reached by the Supreme Court on a question of law or if the state court decides a case differently than the Supreme Court has on a set of materially indistinguishable facts. An "unreasonable application" occurs when the state court identifies the correct legal principle from a Supreme Court's decision but unreasonably applies that principle to the facts of the prisoner's case. Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 412-13, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000). A federal habeas court may not find a state adjudication to be "unreasonable" "simply because that court concludes in its independent judgment that the relevant state-court decision applied clearly established federal law erroneously or incorrectly." Id. at 411, 120 S.Ct. 1495.

III. Discussion

A. Claim # 1. The Confrontation Clause claim.

Petitioner first claims that his right of confrontation was violated when the trial court permitted Detective O'Brien to testify about information that she had received from petitioner's and Cory Colbert's booking records. The Michigan Court of Appeals rejected this claim, finding that these booking information sheets were properly admitted pursuant to the business records exception to the hearsay rule found in M.R.E. 803(6). People v. Johnson, 2001 WL 1606841, **2-3. The Michigan Court of Appeals further found that petitioner's booking information sheet was admissible as a party opponent admission pursuant to M.R.E. 801(d)(2)(A). Id. at *2.

The Court initially notes that to the extent that petitioner is contending that the state trial court improperly determined that these statements were admissible under Michigan law, he would not be entitled to habeas relief on such a claim. What is or is not hearsay evidence in a state court trial is governed by state law. Gochicoa v. Johnson, 118 F.3d 440, 445 (5th Cir.1997); Diaz v. Curtis, 2000 WL 1769571, * 7 (E.D.Mich. October 31, 2000). In this case, the Michigan Court of Appeals determined that information from petitioner's and Colbert's booking information sheets was properly admitted under the business records exception to the hearsay rule and further held that petitioner's statements were also admissible as the admission of a party opponent. A federal habeas court is bound by a state appellate court's ruling that certain testimony is not hearsay, because state law governs questions concerning the admissibility of evidence. See Maynard v. Lockhart, 981 F.2d 981, 986 (8th Cir.1992). Any claim that the trial court improperly admitted this evidence as an exception to the hearsay rule is therefore noncognizable in federal habeas...